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Journal Article Search Strategies

Field Specific Searching

Another way to refine a search is to limit your search to a field. A field is a record element* containing a specific type of information about a journal article. Some examples of fields are:

  • title
  • author
  • subject or descriptor
  • journal or source
  • publication date
  • abstract
  • full-text indicator

* What is a record element? When you look something up in the library, the list of results that appear on the screen are called records; it is library jargon. An element of this record is just a way of referring to one part of it.